Worlds in Truth
by Kai-Ree Dahl
Summary: Reincarnation is a tricky thing. You could get stuck in a similar situation as your last one, something better or something worse. Reincarnation in the world of Amestris and the Fullmetal Alchemist is even trickier. Follow the reincarnation of one Hermione Granger as she struggles to remember who she was, and who she is now. Rated T for Ed's language. I suck at summaries, sorry!
1. Preface

AN: Hey guys! I have other stories I really should be working on, but this one just won't leave me alone.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, otherwise there would be a lot more RoyxEd jokes. None of the ideas expressed above are actually mine. They are told to me by Jared and Misha, the five inch tall space aliens who live under my desk. In return for these ideas, I have given them permission to eat any dust bunnies they may find under there. XD

So without further ado,

Worlds in Truth

Prologue

A brunette woman sat contentedly on the steps of a dais. She sat staring at an black stone arch, strangely positioned in the center of the room. The arch in turn, seemed to stare back at her, with it's translucent curtain swaying to the non-existent breeze.

The woman had spent years studying the arch for her friend, and after seven years she still had nothing.

The arch called to her, though. It whispered things that she could barely hear and spoke secrets and lost knowledge that no one had realized had been lost.

"Still staring at the veil, I see." a voice spoke from the entrance to the dais' room.

The woman turned, a little dazedly, to see the friend she had begun studying the veil for.

"It is rather mesmerizing." The woman replied with a wry smile. She stood up and shook out all of her numb limbs. "What are you doing here, Harry? Shouldn't you be in Minsk for that conference?" Harry groaned in complaint.

"They're so boring, Hermione. They keep talking in circles about stuff like funding and Quidditch." He rolled his eyes.

"I figured that'd be something you'd love." Hermione replied with an indulgent grin. Harry grimaced.

"I like to play Quidditch, not debate for hour about whether the Chuddley Cannons will ever win the World Cup." The two chuckled together at the absurdity of that statement. It faded after a moment, as did their smiles.

Hermione cleared her throat, eager to change the subject.

"I've made a little progress on the veil." She said quickly. "It seems to be a portal, but only for living things. I can't count the amount of chocolate frogs and Berty Bott's beans I've thrown through. It also seems to be connected to some sort of matrix, though I don't know what it does.-"

"Hermione." Harry tried, a tired look on his face. The frazzled brunette continued regardless.

"- and I haven't quite translated the runes yet but I'm getting close. I think they're either ancient German or Icelandic in origin-"

"HERMIONE!" The young woman stopped short, staring with wide eyes at her friend. The black haired man sighed. "You can't avoid it forever."

"I don't know what you mean." Hermione replied staunchly, despite the tears already welling in her eyes. Harry stepped closer and gently rested both hands on her shoulders.

"Hermione, I know you're sad. I am too. But you can't make the truth disappear by avoiding it. It's not healthy for-"

"Stop it." Harry continued, regardless of the energy filling the air.

"He's gone-"

"Stop it!" There were cracks running through the ground now, starting from Hermione's quivering form and heading outward.

"Hermione, just-"

"STOP IT!" The brunettes voice was at a near shriek, but her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were shiny with tears. "Just...stop it."

Harry's eyes softened.

"Hermione..."

"I know he's gone, Harry." The woman replied, her voice shaking slightly. "I feel it every day, every hour, every minute. I can feel it when I go to tell someone about a book I've read and whenever someone tells me my acronyms are stupid. I know he's gone when I go to Hogwarts and there's no stupid red-head, gorging himself in the Great Hall or playing Quidditch with his best friend or being braver than nearly everyone in the house of the brave. I feel it when I go home and it's empty and I-" She began sobbing into her friends chest, clutching tightly onto the front of his robes.

Harry gazed sadly down at his collapsing friend and held her tightly to him, lending her all the warmth and comfort that he could. They sat there for several minutes, not saying anything

"I miss him so much." Hermione told him in a whisper, breaking the silence.

"I know. So do I." Harry admitted.

As they sat, neither one noticed the lingering tether of emotional magic slink towards the veil. Up the stairs, between the cracks in the ground, and across the clear flat dais, neither felt the magic until it was too late.

Hermione shot up, her panicked eyes reaching the veil and her magic quicker than Harry's. She reached forward, as if to pull the magic back to her but it had already entered the veil.

She collapsed with a bloodcurdling scream.

Harry caught her writhing form and attempted to locate the lingering magic tether that was causing her so much pain. He found it after a moment, and severed it, but the damage had already been done. He laid the unconscious woman on one of the steps as he stood and followed the severed tether to the veil.

He looked on in a mixture of horror and awe as the veil glowed a bright white, like it never had before. He peered closer at it's swaying curtain only to jerk back in shock.

A human stood on the other side, or at least a humanoid shape. It was rather large and the proportions were a bit off but it was still obviously human.

Harry reached forward gently with his magic, ready to sever it at any moment. He reached for the figure and felt it connect securely.

He pulled.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Castle

AN: Yo!

First Chapter of Worlds in Truth. Hope you like it as much as you seemed to like the preface! I have an already solid idea of where this is going to go, and I'll have a poll for you guys in later chapters over the romance of this story, if there is to be any. I'll also have a poll up for any side romances you guys would want to see.

Anyway, Read and Review Please!

Disclaimer: I do not own. Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers. Any spelling mistakes in this story are all entirly my fault. Any grammer errors spotted in this story were put there because I could. ;P

* * *

A blond young man chased an middle-aged brunet through the ruins of an ancient building. The blond wasn't quite sure what the building used to be, but whatever it was, was massive.

It spanned nearly the entire valley (which, itself, was quite large in scope) and it appeared to have military and tactical towers and insignia all over. The blond had tripped several times on cracked stones and broken stairs, but he had yet to fall and lose the brunette.

The brunet, in turn, seemed to know the ruins well, too well. He weaved and dodged expertly through archways and half-walls and down stairwells and ladders. He had obviously been here for a long time... along with all of his victims.

This thought made the blond growl. He put on a burst of speed and clapped his hands together. His arm did something arms weren't supposed to do, it changed.

What once was a normal looking arm was replaced by a shiny chrome blade that ripped through the sleeve of the blond's black shirt.

The brunet, noticing these changes in his pursuer, tried to put on a similar burst of speed. The blond grinned.

"NOW, AL!" He shouted as he looked slightly past the brunet's shoulder.

This had the desired effect of attracting the older man's attention. The young man leaped several paces forward and prepared to attack the older man head on.

The man, however, quickly evaded and dropped low to the floor. The blond's momentum threw him into a tumble over the other man's head.

When he finally came to a stop, he turned swiftly...only to find the man had disappeared.

The young man cursed loudly. He clapped his hands and pressed them to the ground. In response, the floor opened invitingly to reveal a passage way.

The blond grinned and hopped down.

"Think you can run away from me, old man? Think again!" He strode forward confidently, only to find him self in a room with several different passageways.

The blond froze, ceasing his boasting, and began cursing anew.

NEXT SCENE

Several yards away from the blond, down one of the passages, the brunet chuckled lowly. He had plans to escape the ruins, but first he needed to collect his research, lest the military dogs find it.

He hopped out of the passage and into his lab. Cages lined the room, deformed and groaning creatures of undeterminable origin laying within. The creatures all looked up when the man entered and drew back in fear as they saw who it was.

The man ignored the creatures, and instead focused on the desk covered in papers and folders. Once those were safely packed away in his brief case, the man took one last look at the symbols carved into the floor.

Sweeping in a large circle, strange letters- that weren't exactly letters - swirled and intertwined in an odd pattern. The man had spent years investigating the building and had only found this room a little under a year ago. He used what he assumed to be an array as the basis for his research, to little success.

The circle vaguely resembled a human transmutation circle, which is what he had based his research on, but as time passed he was become more and more convinced that it wasn't. But the purpose of the circle still puzzled him.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, the man grabbed his bag and began striding for the door-

SMACK!

The walls seemed to fuse with the door and the man spun around, expecting to see the blond runt.

Instead, a large, armored figure knelt in front of a circle, his hands pressed firmly to the chalk outline.

The man's eyes narrowed and he dropped his bag to the side.

"You're 'Al,' I take it?" He spoke nonchalantly, as if talking about the weather.

"And you're Dr. Killrot." The newly name Dr. Killrot recoiled in surprise. The armored figure's voice was far too high for someone of his stature. It belonged more to a preteen boy than a man.

"You're an alchemist as well, I take it. Why not join me, help me with my research. We could both uncover the secrets to creating life and become gods among men! People would worship us!"

The armored figure looked insulted, if that was possible.

"I'd never resort to turning my own employees into chimera! You're insane!"

The chimera in the cages growled in agreement, their fear turning to anger.

The man scoffed.

"Plebeian." He grinned Al strode forward. "Anyway, it's not like I need you around any longer, I think I'll just give you a little... push out."  
With a crazy grin, the man clapped his hands together and pressed them to the circle on the floor just as Al passed over it's center.

Al stared in shock as the floor around his lit in a scarily familiar light. He could feel the alchemical energy flowing through the air like a river.  
The only saving grace to his fate was that the activation of the circle caused the cages to burst open. The creature climbed out and headed toward their captor, now their prey.

Al could only watch as the chimera descended on the doctor, and when the man brought his hands up to defend himself, Al was gone.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Veil  


AN: Hey guys, this is my update for the ... I don't know, really. I'll tell you when I figure out my schedule.

Anyway, next week is finals so don't expect an update, but if you do get one, then think of i as an early Christmas/any-other-winter-holiday present.

 _ **IMPORTANT NOTE!**_

I need y'alls to think of what pairings you're looking for. I'll have a poll up in my account listing a bunch. If you don't see the one you want on there, tell me in the comments.

NOW, ONWARD!

* * *

Al looked around. One minute he was standing in the ruins in a disturbing looking lab and now he was...

...he didn't know where he was actually.

Al looked around for any sort of landmark, a hill, anything, but there was nothing. It was just all grey.

His metal helmet swiveled around furiously, looking for any sign of an exit. Nothing.

"Brother!" Al called, his high voice cracking slightly in his panic. "Brother, where are you?!" The large figure collapsed to his knees as he realized his brother wouldn't answer.

Then he heard it. A whisper, barely anything, but still a whisper. His head snapped up.

"Hello?" He called warily. The whole place was giving him creepy vibes, but also a sense of recognition. Had he been here before? Was this the afterlife?

Al shook his head and stood. "Hello, who's there?"

Another whisper, fainter this time. Al began walking toward it.

"...love." the whisper had risen to a point where he could actually hear some words, no matter how faint.

"...translated...yet..." This time, when the whisper came, an image flashed in the mist. A woman, blurry though she was, stood next to a man. Al squinted, trying to get a better look, but the image dissipated quickly.

"...don't know...mean..." The image wasn't any stronger this time, if anything it was shakier, but Al was able to tell that the woman was brunette, with her hair in a bun of some sort, while the man had short, black hair.  
Al moved forward as the image vanished.

"...Stop..." He paused in surprise, the image was stronger this time, clearer. It felt like it was calling to him.

The woman, he still couldn't see very clearly, but the man, he could now see, had bright green eyes, thick rimmed glasses, and various small scars on his face. His garments were strange, a little bit like what he read Xing's clothes were like. They were green, like his eyes, with a shiny gold border. The...robe was held closed by a black belt with an odd triangular symbol on the clasp. The woman's clothing appeared to be a similar fashion, only in a dark blue and silver. Al thought her eyes might have been brown, though they could also have been grey.

The image faded once again, and Al moved on.

"...STOP IT!" With a jerk, the large young man froze, the new image almost life-like. The woman's back was to him now, however, so he was unable to see her face. He did realize that she had an odd accent. A lilt of sorts to her voice, it was very beautiful and exotic, but still strange. Al began walking again, believing the image would fade away like the last.

This time, though, the image didn't fade. Instead, when Al took a step, the image got clearer and more real, though it also seemd to grow in distance between him and the image.

Suddenly, Al felt something on his hand, tugging lightly. He looked down to see a large, clear white, object, tugging on his armored hand. With a start, Al realized it was a large bear, probably a grizzly, and it had his hand in it's mouth.

Completely unsure of what to do, Al trailed after the bear that wasn't attacking. Instead, it kept looking back at him, almost fondly.

Al decided he liked the bear. Brother might even have considered keeping him as a pet because of how intimidating he was.

He was so caught up in his fantasy for a pet, that he didn't notice the bear stop. Al walked right through it, and turned back around to face it, surprise written in his body language.

"What is it?" He asked, getting down his knees as he gently rubbed the bear's ear. The bear nudged his hand with it's head in encouragement.

Suddenly, a scream rang out. It was so horrible, so utterly terrifying, horrifying. It made him think of Winry, and Lt. Hawkeye, and Granny Pinako, and mom...

Al shot to his feet in a panic as he searched around for the source. His worries were exacerbated by his bear companion collapsing with a low, pained moan.

Al paused in his frantic search to see his new friend disappear right as the scream ended.

He stood still for a moment, unsure of what to do, which way to go. The place was so bare and bland that the moment he looked away, he lost the direction he was supposed to go in.

Finally, after several moments of floundering, another unexpected tug at his hand came. Al looked down expecting to see his bear friend.

Instead, a large, powerful-looking stag stood next to him, staring warily into his face-plate. It tugged again, harder this time, and gave a short half-neigh.

Since he didn't really have another idea, Al followed. To his surprise, he noticed the place he was in getting darker, yet also lighter, if that made any sense.

When the stag finally stopped pulling him, it looked as if they stood in front of an open door, one with a translucent curtain hanging over the frame.

Al felt a strange...energy of sorts coming from the curtained doorway. He was unsure if it was a good energy or a bad one, but it was most definitely a strange one. It was almost like alchemy, but not quite. Like it was more...vast or something.

Al shook his head.

He looked once more at the doorway, and to his surprise, found a vague outline of a person staring back at him. The person's hand lifted after a moment and rested itself gently on the other side of the frame.

At once, it felt like Al had been plunged into a warm bath, comfortable and warm, but the possibility of over heating or pruning your skin. Al had almost forgotten what that felt like.

The energy tugged and the stag pushed and together they encouraged Al to step forward and through the doorway.

He was plunged into darkness.

NEXT SCENE

Harry could honestly say, when he was feeling out the veil and tugging on the presence within, that he didn't expect a suit of armor to come tumbling out.

Nor did he expect it to stumble up into a standing position (though he really should have. He went to a school of magic for seven years and encountered the suits of armor several times).

He also didn't expect the armor to talk to him in such a high voice.

"Hello?"

Harry blinked. Then, in instinctual politeness, thrust his hand out in between them.

The armor stared at it for a second before taking it and shaking it firmly. If possible, it seemed to have a beaming smile on it's face.

"Uh, hello, Mr. Armor." The black haired man said, a little awkwardly. The armor gained an amused air to it. Harry huffed slightly. Why did the armor have to get amused by Harry's awkwardness?

"Hi." It greeted in it's strangely high-pitched voice.

"My name's Harry Potter. Do you know where you are?"

The armor looked around. Then after a moment shook it's head resolutely.

"Nope." Harry sighed.

"Great. More paperwork." The armor gave an unsympathetic laugh.

"Brother has to deal with that all the time. Not as much as the Colonel, though." It laughed again.

Brother? It was a suit of armor, it couldn't have been born, so no possibility of brothers, unless you counted brothers in battle or something. Also, who was this Colonel? A human? Another suit of armor? A magical creature of some sort? Harry had absolutely no clue as to the answer to any of these questions, but he was insanely curious about it.

"Well, at least Hermione's gonna have fun." Harry sighed as he looked over at his unconscious friend.

"Eh?"

"Oh, sorry. Hermione loves a puzzle. It helps keep her mind off of...things."

"Hmm. Brother's like that as well. And he gets really sucked into his research when he does begin." Harry barked out a laugh.

"Yeah, that sounds like Hermione. You related to her or something?" He asked rhetorically.

The armor shrugged.

"Never met her, but probably not." It looked down, like it was sad. "We don't exactly have a lot of family to speak of."

Harry gave a commiserating smile. That was something he could relate to.

"Just you and your brother then, huh?"

"Yep." It looked deep in thought for a moment. "And Granny Pinako and Winry."

"Your cousin or something?"

"No, just close family friends. We grew up together."

Harry paused, unsure of how to go about that statement tactfully. In the end, though, he just dove right in.

"You're a suit of armor." He stated flatly. Said armor, tensed and had a nervous air about it.

"So, uh, you noticed that, huh?" It added a little nervous laugh to the end. Harry gave him a deadpan look. "Right, well, uh...My name's Alfonse Elric. I'm fourteen years old, and I, uh...wasn't always a suit of armor?"

Harry stared at him blankly for a moment.

"So...did you bond your soul to the armor on purpose, or...?"

"Brother and I were doing something...stupid. It ended up taking away my body, but brother saved me and bound my soul to this suit of armor." Another nervous laugh.

"...you have such horrid luck."

"Yeah." Al laughed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Harry finally let himself relax, letting his hand drift away from his wand holster. He threw a glance at his best friend and sighed. He turned back to Al.

"C'mon." He picked up Hermione in his arms. She was a lot lighter than he remembered.

"Where are we going?" Al asked, curiously observing the brunette swaying slightly with every step.

"To the infirmary. Hermione probably hit her head or something when she dragged you here." Harry heard the armor freeze.

"...What do you mean she dragged me here?"

"I don't know how or why, but the veil began drawing on her energy like it never had before." Harry frowned. "It apparently hurt a lot."

"W-was she the one who screamed?" Al asked timidly. Harry nodded and Al whimpered slightly in discontent. The thought of hurting someone, even by accident, wasn't appealing in any way. To get his mind off of it, he attempted to change the subject.

"So, I take it, she's Hermione?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah." Harry smiled down at her. "She's my best friend, like a sister. But..." He frowned and shook his head. "She's been through a lot these past few years."

"Oh?" Al latched onto this new topic eagerly.

"Mm." Harry confirmed grimly. "We both have. Anyway," Harry stopped moving and pointed toward a metal door that Al hadn't noticed before. "I hope you don't mind, but we have to verify your intentions to us before I'll let you go roaming about."

Al, thankfully, nodded in acquiescence. He stepped into the room, to find it was simple and rather bare, containing only a clean white cot and a book shelf with books. He turned back to the older man who was watching his appraisal of the room.

"I figured you'd want something to keep you occupied." Harry said, noticing Al's interest in the books. "You'll only have to stay here a few days, until we figure out how to send you back or prove that you mean us no harm."

"I'd really rather get back to my brother." Al agreed. Then, he bagan panicking as he realised what that sounded like. "I-I don't mean to say that I don't like you or anything, it's just-"

"I understand." Harry cut him off with a smile. He gestured to his unconscious friend. "I'm just going to take her to the infirmery. I'll be back as soon as I can."

The door closed and Al sighed as he picked up a book. It was strange and rather sad that he was used to this sort of treatment. He'd been in this sort of situation way too many times, too many to count. It' was probably Brother's fault. He was like a bad luck charm, or something. A small one.

He grinned, imagining what his brother's reaction to that little comment would be.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Hermione

AN: I'm sad. Some of my followers left and I don't know why. Oh well.

This is something of an early Holiday present for y'all. That and it wouldn't really leave me alone...

I still need voters! As it stands, the current pairings shall be:

EdxWinry

or

RoyxEd

or

RoyxRiza

AlxMay

JeanxHermione

I need help!

If you don't see a pairing you want, or you see a pairing you really _**don't**_ want, you need to vote. Vote through the poll on my profile or through the comments. Please?!

Anyway, on with the story!

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed are my own, and generally unpopular with others. As I am self-employed, this *is* the opinion of my employer. 80% of all statistics are wrong.

* * *

Hermione woke with a moan, clutching her head as she curled up in the sheets. She was about ready to start cursing whoever let her drink that much, probably Harry or maybe Luna. The flighty blonde was prone to giving Hermione random alcoholic beverages, sometimes without her knowledge. Most of the time on the job, as well.

She let out a pathetic whimper, imagining how her boss would react to another missed day of work this month.

A rustle from the direction of her kitchen interrupted her internal anguish.

Hermione cracked an eye open and winced at the sunlight glaring into her room. Using her hand as a shader, Hermione was able to see into her kitchen, past the bustling red head, and straight to the pot of coffee beckoning her away from the warm safety of her bed.

She moaned again as she stood, walking with her eyes closed, so as to keep the sun out of them. She could feel the red head's eye roll, though she couldn't see it, but she didn't particularly care.

Hermione groaned happily when the glorious cup of coffee was in her hands, still piping hot. Sometimes she absolutely loved magic.

"I can feel the love right now, Hermione." The red head snarked, interrupting the brunette's heavenly praise to the coffee gods.

She swatted the red head with a mild glare and then, being the mature witch that she was, she stuck her tongue out.

The red head smirked and quickly grabbed her tongue while it was still out. Hermione pouted as she stood there with her mouth half open and looking like a fool.

"Can't I get a 'thank you'?" The red head asked with a devilish look.

"Fank 'ou." With a satisfied smile, the red head released the tongue and went back to cooking. Hermione, smirking, quickly licked her palm and swiped it across the back of the red head's neck.

There was a loud shriek and a crash as the red head collapsed on the ground in shock.

The brunette nearly fell over in laughter as the red head glared contemptuously up at her.

"That was unfair." George replied as he wiped the slobber off of his neck. Hermione smirked.

"All's fair in coffee and war." George rolled his eyes good-naturedly before becoming a bit more serious.

"How are you feeling?"

"I have a bit of a headache," Hermione replied as another throb made it's way through her head, "but other than that, I just feel kind of like I forgot something. Like something important."

"Like the fact that your magic was pulled into the veil." Another voice interrupted, making both Hermione and George tense.

"Harry!" George clutched dramatically at his chest. "Don't scare me like that! You'll give me heart failure."

"Hmmm, we wouldn't want that now, would we?" Harry said, rolling his eyes. They finally settled on a rather shaken Hermione.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember anything about the veil? Anything at all?"

Hermione slowly shook her head in response, but that was a lie. She did remember something, though it wasn't much.

She remembered a young boy, no older than five with no name or place associated to him like most memories, but she could see he was completely adorable and blissfully happy. He had pulled at her hand, excitedly dragging her to a large tree standing tall next to a quaint-looking house. He then presented her with something proudly. She couldn't see it, but she remembered feeling immensely proud of him.

What made it all the more strange, was that the boy looked like her. He had her brown hair, though it was cut short and much more manageable, and he had her face, with her father's eyes and her mother's nose.

Hermione didn't know how she was related to the boy or how she knew him, but she wanted to. She felt very drawn to him.

"...-mione!" Her eyes shot up to Harry and George's worried faces.

"Sorry," she replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "I was thinking about why my magic would be sucked into the veil when it's never done it before." Hermione praised herself at her improved ability to lie on her feet, before realizing that wasn't exactly a good thing.  
Harry, sadly, bought the lie, as did George.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd come in to study the veil ..." Harry gave George a look "and the person who came out of it."

Hermione's head snapped up and her back straightened.

"SOMEONE CAME OUT OF THE VEIL?!"

"I was kind of hoping to keep that a secret." Harry said wryly, rubbing at his ear.

Hermione gained a light blush, but continued on incredulously. "How? Was it my magic?"

"Sort of." Harry frowned. "I think your magic was like a catalyst, drawing this person toward the veil but not pulling them through. I could feel them from inside, so I used my magic as a tether, to pull them to this world."

"Was it ... was it Sirius?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"No, it wasn't." He replied, a little sad at the fact. Not as much as he would have been a few years ago, anyway. "I'm also kind of glad it wasn't." He confided.

"Why?" Hermione asked, utterly baffled by Harry's reluctance to see his beloved godfather.

"If I saw him now ... I don't know. I'd probably revert back to the irresponsible depressed, angst-ridden teen that I used to be." He shook his head. "I have two kids to take care of now. My wife is pregnant with our second child. I have responsibilities, to my family, to my friends, to the Ministry. I can't afford to go back to the way I was before. Not really, not anymore."

"I understand." Hermione said looking down. "My parents- if I saw them again, well..." she trailed off. Suddenly realizing how depressing the air had gotten, Hermione hurriedly changed the topic. "You wanted me to study this person from the veil?"

"Yeah." Harry said, accepting the subject change. "They're nice, though I haven't really talked to them much. They were worried about you when they heard that you were injured in whatever brought them here."

"Well," Hermione hesitated, "I want to study the Veil first." She lied.

She would, of course, study the Veil first, that part wasn't a lie, but she really wanted to meet this person who came through. Everything in her body, though was telling her that was a bad idea, like she couldn't go back afterwards. She wanted to figure out why first, before she committed.

Harry nodded at her reply, oblivious to her inner turmoil. "I'll see you at work in two hours, then." And with a spin, he apparated out.

Hermione sighed and leaned into the counter. The next few days were going to be very long ones.

* * *

AN: I hope you like my reasoning for Harry's cautious reaction. Both of them, and all the other characters have gone through a recent trauma, one that shall be explained later. It will be quite a few chapters until Al's back in Amestris, and after that, a few chapters until Harry Potter characters get to Amestris.

I'd appreciate any suggestions and your predictions for where you think this story's going!

As always,

Kai


End file.
